Rescue-1122 responsible for kids’ killings: IB

LAHORE - The initial findings of Shadbagh house fire in which six children of a same family were burnt alive, has been sent to the Prime Minister and Punjab Chief Minister, official sources said on Monday. The report, prepared by the Intelligence Bureau (IB), reveals that all the six children including twin boys were burnt alive as the rescuer workers failed to timely respond to the emergency call. A source familiar with the development said that a team of Intelligence Bureau, constituted to probe into the incident, visited the site and recorded the statements of the residents, rescue workers, firefighters, and some policemen as well. It was confirmed in the report that the Rescue-1122’s firefighters reached the disaster site after one hour delay. All the six children were burnt to death when the Rescue-1122 workers and firefighters reached the spot, according to official sources. During the investigations into the fire incident it was also learnt that when the first fire-brigade vehicle reached the spot for search and rescue operation, the rescue workers had no stairs to launch the. Also, it took rescuers 15 minutes to open the water pipe. According to the relatives of the victim family, the firefighters were alerted soon after the incident but they reached the site after one hour. The neighbours managed to put out the fire at their own. Earlier, on the orders of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, the area offices of Rescue-1122 and fire brigade service were sealed and the official record had been seized. Six children, including three girls and as many boys, were pulled out and shifted to hospital, where they were pronounced as “brought dead.” They were later identified as Manahal, 12, Zain, 11, Dua, 8, Aleeba, 5, and one-and a half-year-old twins Azan and Azhan. The bodies were handed over to the parents on Sunday afternoon and the victims were buried at a local graveyard amid tears and screaming. When contacted again on Monday, DG Rescue-1122 Rizwan Naseer was not available for comment.